Susanna Conti

Born in Florence in 1957, after her art studies Susanna Conti graduated with a teaching degree in textiles, majoring in textile restoration, before going on to further specialise in textile conservation and restoration.

Restauration and Conservation

In 1991 she became a restorer of textile materials and artefacts at the OPD in Florence, a ministerial institute for the restoration of art. As conservator-restorer, she was tasked as technical director and coordinator of the institute’s textiles atelier, while at the same time appointed head of the textiles and leather section for the OPD’s training school. Her expertise covers the broad world of textiles conservation and restoration, including forms of textile art (tapestry, carpets, fabrics and embroidery), investigation and analysis methods, dying and printing techniques, technologies for the conservation and restoration of fibrous and composite materials, and specific techniques for the cleaning and consolidation of textiles and the relative tools used.

She is a member of a number of boards, committees, work groups and study teams both within the OPD and in external organisations. She teaches at the OPD school and external institutes, tutors interns and is an undergraduate thesis supervisor. She also speaks at conferences and is called as a scientific advisor for temporary and permanent exhibitions.

She is the author of numerous publications on the restoration of textiles, composite artefacts and contemporary works and a member of the editorial boards of various journals and periodicals.

Honours and Teaching Appointments

  • 1987
    Founding member of the ARI–Italian Restorers’ Association.
  • 2001
    Deputy chair of the NorMaL Textiles Committee.
  • 2012
    Lecturer, Embroidery Centre, Tainan University of Technology, Taiwan.
  • Dal 2013
    Teacher of Constitutive Materials Technology and of Restoration Techniques, OPD Florence.